Join us for a special event featuring author David J. Ulbrich in discussion about his new book Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of the Marine Corps, 1936 – 1943.

The two decades that followed World War I brought hard times to the US Marine Corps. By 1936, the corps had shrunk from 75,101 Marines (in 1918) to only 17,234.

As international tensions escalated when Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan expanded their military forces, the US possessed neither the will to fight nor a sufficiently strong military to counter these threats. At this low point in December 1936, Thomas Holcomb became the seventeenth commandant of the Marine Corps.

Preparing for Victory is the first book to document Holcomb's crucial role as commandant during the Great Depression and World War II.

The event is free and open to the public, but due to limited seat a reservation is required. Please RSVP to 504-528-1944 x 412 or register online.

The National WWII Museum tells the story of the American Experience in the war that changed the world - why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today - so that all generations will understand the price of freedom and be inspired by what they learn.